Dining out is so stupid these days

[Anonymous]

Checking out a new restaurant they just opened online and their menu says they charge the following:

$20 for 8 wings
$21 for a burger
$18 for a burratta appetizer
$16 for fried green tomatoes
$16+ for every salad
$15+ for every cocktail
$7-9 for every beer
$12 bread appetizer
$25+ at a minimum for any entree


Has anyone else given up on dining out? Prices are now astronomically stupid. Nearly $200 or over for dining out is now a minimum. What are these places going to do if there's ever a significant recession and people really start to give up on these prices? Two beers and friggin burger now run you $50 if you just want to watch the game at a bar area. Ridiculous. And this isn't even remotely close to any kind of finer dining.

It's really shocking how much restaurants are overpriced in the US. You can travel to Asia and get amazing for for $1-10 per dish, and even when you count for purchasing power parity, they spend way lower relative to income on dining out in Asia. Why does the US love to gouge the crap out of consumers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Checking out a new restaurant they just opened online and their menu says they charge the following:

$20 for 8 wings
$21 for a burger
$18 for a burratta appetizer
$16 for fried green tomatoes
$16+ for every salad
$15+ for every cocktail
$7-9 for every beer
$12 bread appetizer
$25+ at a minimum for any entree


Has anyone else given up on dining out? Prices are now astronomically stupid. Nearly $200 or over for dining out is now a minimum. What are these places going to do if there's ever a significant recession and people really start to give up on these prices? Two beers and friggin burger now run you $50 if you just want to watch the game at a bar area. Ridiculous. And this isn't even remotely close to any kind of finer dining.

It's really shocking how much restaurants are overpriced in the US. You can travel to Asia and get amazing for for $1-10 per dish, and even when you count for purchasing power parity, they spend way lower relative to income on dining out in Asia. Why does the US love to gouge the crap out of consumers?

I mean this literally “Are you new here”? Burgers have been over $20 at not even particulars high end sit down establishments for over 5 years now. Are you coming from a lower COL area of the US? And the comparison to Asia is strange. They have an entirely different food system.

[Anonymous]

No, I hate cooking and am bad at it, and love eating out. I just adjust my budget to work it in. I generally don't get any drinks besides water, and will usually split an appetizer and dessert with whoever I dine with if we want those. So it's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

I'm with you. And no, we don't eat out. We prefer to do different things on our date night and often eat beforehand.

[Anonymous]

I generally agree, not even about the prices being high, but creativity is gone at midrange restaurants. Every menu is identical: sliders, pizza, wings, salad, steak, chicken, pasta. We have basically stopped dining out often because everything is a spin on things we can easily do at home.

Every new restaurant is a Mediterranean Greek/Lebanese concept, something "American" see above, sushi (which we generally can't afford), pizza or Korean chicken which I love but I'm trying to avoid fried chicken for health reasons.

We get Chipotle and pizza occasionally for the kids, and DH and I go out for tapas or Asian food once in a while for a date night, or I'll pick up sushi at Whole Foods.

Not even getting into the service fees they're charging on top of the prices.

[Anonymous]

We have dramatically cut back on eating out in the last six months. I’m fine with paying for good food, but it feels like the portions are tiny these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I generally agree, not even about the prices being high, but creativity is gone at midrange restaurants. Every menu is identical: sliders, pizza, wings, salad, steak, chicken, pasta. We have basically stopped dining out often because everything is a spin on things we can easily do at home.

Every new restaurant is a Mediterranean Greek/Lebanese concept, something "American" see above, sushi (which we generally can't afford), pizza or Korean chicken which I love but I'm trying to avoid fried chicken for health reasons.

We get Chipotle and pizza occasionally for the kids, and DH and I go out for tapas or Asian food once in a while for a date night, or I'll pick up sushi at Whole Foods.

Not even getting into the service fees they're charging on top of the prices.

I agree with this poster. Most of the stuff is the same every where and honestly doesn't even taste that good. At this point, we no longer have a favorite restaurant and kind of groan when we have to get take out since its kind of all the same and lackluster.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s stupid I just think people prioritize things differently.
Those prices sound high to me too but I am someone who enjoys a Starbucks frap 2-3x a week because they bring me joy. So I won’t spend $20 on wings but I’ll spend $5 on coffee.
I think it’s stupid to spend $2k+ on a dog when shelters are full of homeless dogs.
Everyone is different. Doesn’t make them stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I generally agree, not even about the prices being high, but creativity is gone at midrange restaurants. Every menu is identical: sliders, pizza, wings, salad, steak, chicken, pasta. We have basically stopped dining out often because everything is a spin on things we can easily do at home.

Every new restaurant is a Mediterranean Greek/Lebanese concept, something "American" see above, sushi (which we generally can't afford), pizza or Korean chicken which I love but I'm trying to avoid fried chicken for health reasons.

We get Chipotle and pizza occasionally for the kids, and DH and I go out for tapas or Asian food once in a while for a date night, or I'll pick up sushi at Whole Foods.

Not even getting into the service fees they're charging on top of the prices.

Yup, after considering taxes, service surcharges AND tipping, dining out in the US is ridiculously stupid now. Mid food now $200.

[Anonymous]

I agree these prices are high; I'm eating out less.

But the restaurants are not, generally, getting rich. Their costs are going up and they are having lots of trouble hiring enough people, so they have to raise wages, and they don't want to lower prices and get slammed with more business than they can handle, or lose money because they could have charged more.

If you disagree, open your own restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I generally agree, not even about the prices being high, but creativity is gone at midrange restaurants. Every menu is identical: sliders, pizza, wings, salad, steak, chicken, pasta. We have basically stopped dining out often because everything is a spin on things we can easily do at home.

Every new restaurant is a Mediterranean Greek/Lebanese concept, something "American" see above, sushi (which we generally can't afford), pizza or Korean chicken which I love but I'm trying to avoid fried chicken for health reasons.

We get Chipotle and pizza occasionally for the kids, and DH and I go out for tapas or Asian food once in a while for a date night, or I'll pick up sushi at Whole Foods.

Not even getting into the service fees they're charging on top of the prices.

I agree with this poster. Most of the stuff is the same every where and honestly doesn't even taste that good. At this point, we no longer have a favorite restaurant and kind of groan when we have to get take out since its kind of all the same and lackluster.

I agree that prices are outrageous but you seem to be limited in the restaurants you visit.

[Anonymous]

I’ve dramatically cut back on eating out. We can afford it but it’s just annoying to feel like I’m getting screwed. Plus the food just seems to taste worse because the prices set my expectations at a higher level than they deliver at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree these prices are high; I'm eating out less.

But the restaurants are not, generally, getting rich. Their costs are going up and they are having lots of trouble hiring enough people, so they have to raise wages, and they don't want to lower prices and get slammed with more business than they can handle, or lose money because they could have charged more.

If you disagree, open your own restaurant.

I know 4 restaurant owners and they are all rich. People are suing these prices. I rarely go out to eat for same reasons already listed.

[Anonymous]

I love cooking and I’m great at it. So, no I don’t mind paying those prices a few times a month.

Seriously if you wanna know why you should not eat out list the sodium levels of each of those dishes .

[Anonymous]

We rarely eat out b/c if the ridiculous prices. Plus, we're a big family so feeding 6 people at $20 /ea is cringe.
We dine out as a treat or on special occasions and even then we minimize expenses (water, no apps, no dessert, download app for XX% off, etc) as much as possible.